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Two ladies died Tuesday at a Tennessee highschool in suspected overdoses after taking a drug mixture that authorities consider included fentanyl, the newest reminder of how rampantly the deadly drug has made its method to younger folks lately.
A 3rd woman, a 17-year-old scholar who additionally overdosed at Fayette-Ware Complete Excessive Faculty in Somerville however has since been launched from a hospital, was charged as a juvenile with two counts of second-degree homicide and possession of a managed substance, mentioned District Lawyer Basic Mark Davidson with the twenty fifth Judicial District that features Fayette County. Somerville is about 45 miles northeast of Memphis.
Davidson instructed NBC Information whereas fentanyl is suspected to play a task within the deaths of the scholars, ages 16 and 17, the health worker nonetheless has to find out the trigger and method of their deaths.
“This case is tragic. It’s horrible,” he mentioned. “And sadly, it highlights what we’ve been telling the general public … concerning the risks of fentanyl. How deadly it’s and the way prevalent it’s turning into. And that should you purchase any drug on the road, whether or not you assume it’s meth or cocaine, or a pressed capsule, … it very nicely could include fentanyl and it very nicely may kill you.”
The 2 teenagers have been discovered lifeless in a college parking zone, whereas {the teenager} who survived was unconscious, Davidson added.
No choice has been made but on whether or not that teen can be charged as an grownup, he mentioned.
Fayette County Public Faculties Superintendent Versie R. Hamlett mentioned in a Fb publish Wednesday {that a} “horrible tragedy” occurred the day before today at the highschool that concerned three college students who have been finishing their junior yr on the faculty.
The names of the scholars haven’t been launched.
“At the beginning, we wish to ship our ideas and prayers to the households of the younger girls who misplaced their lives,” the publish mentioned. “A typical thread all through our district is household. This case has rocked our household.”
The superintendent added that district officers have been working with the Fayette County Sheriff’s Workplace and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and “supporting their efforts in each doable approach.”
The sheriff’s workplace introduced on Fb earlier this week the deaths of the minors in doable drug overdoses. A 3rd juvenile was taken to the hospital in crucial situation, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned.
The suspected fentanyl-related deaths of the teenagers in Tennessee come on the heels of experiences of different teen overdoses reported in communities throughout the nation.
Practically one dozen college students unfold throughout three faculties within the Carrollton-Farmers Department Impartial Faculty District in Texas overdosed on fentanyl from September to March. Three of them died.
The overdoses have been related to 3 people who lived just a few blocks from the varsity, based on a federal criticism. All have been charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a managed substance.
Fentanyl, a extremely potent and addictive artificial opiate that may be lethal with a dose as small because the tip of a pencil, has ravaged grownup populations for almost a decade. The mass availability of the drug lately has given it a wider path to younger folks.
Median month-to-month overdose deaths involving fentanyl for folks ages 10 to 19 elevated 182% from July to December 2019 in comparison with the identical interval in 2021, based on a December report from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
Greater than 2,200 teenagers fatally overdosed within the two and a half yr interval from July 2019 to December 2021, with fentanyl concerned in 84% of the deaths, the report discovered.
Daniella Silva and Safia Samee Ali contributed.
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